How to Ensure your Network is Locked Down

If you are setting up a business network security should be one of your chief concerns. Any good small business network will be protected by both hardware and software firewalls that should be configured by a trained networking professional. However, further steps should be taken to protect both the network hardware and the valuable information that it stores.

Electrical power

Perhaps one of the greatest threats to computer networks is power surges and voltage spikes. In fact, it is not unknown for computers, servers and peripherals on entire networks to be destroyed by power surges when they have been left unprotected.

Because of this, some form of surge protector is essential that will prevent voltage spikes from damaging equipment. This should either block the surge or short the system so the voltage spike does not reach the equipment.

Most networks will also use uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to prevent brief power cuts from shutting down the network. These can ensure that the network stays up and running for anything for a few minutes to a number of hours depending on the equipment.

In general, there are three things that can bring a network down:

Attacks - This usually means attacks by hackers who breach a system, or attacks on the hardware itself.

Failures - Failures are a common cause of networks going down. In many networks, the failure of just one piece of hardware or one piece of equipment can bring the rest of the network down. This is also possible through software failure.

Accidents - Accidents happen and so do natural disasters. From someone spilling their Sprite all over the switch to a major earthquake, there are many potential causes of network failure that simply can't be predicted.

For the average home or small business network, there isn't a huge budget to protect against lengthy power failures and disasters. Normally, the best that can be done is that the network is protected from hackers with firewalls, a surge protector in place and there is a UPS to give an extra few minutes of power in the case of a power failure. This will give extra time to make sure all data is backed up and that equipment is shut down correctly.

Larger networks that need to avoid problems at all costs may have monitoring and diagnostic equipment. This will keep track of traffic on the network and any errors that occur to help network administrators pinpoint any potential problems.

 

Written by: Frank J Klein - CIO

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